A magnitude-4.9 earthquake rattled the Colorado- New Mexico border Wednesday afternoon, shaking books off shelves in Aguilar and scaring dogs in Trinidad.
“Honest to Pete, it sounded like an 18-wheeler pulling into our garage,” said Jacqueline Sinnet, 59, who lives south of Trinidad, about 10 miles from the New Mexico border.
The quake struck at 4:08 p.m. about 23 miles west of Raton, N.M., according to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden. It was felt 220 miles away in Sharon Springs, Kan.
Colorado has not had a natural earthquake of that size since a magnitude 5.2 in Ridgway in 1962. A series of earthquakes in the 5.0 range hit north of Denver in the 1960s, triggered by wastewater injections deep underground, said state geologist Vince Matthews.
Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist for the earthquake center, said Colorado’s mountains are a testament to the state’s violent seismic history.
“We think the main part of that process stopped many many millions of years ago,” Presgrave said. “But obviously, because of those faults and because of the activity there in the past, it’s reasonable to assume there’s the possibility of moderate earthquakes from time to time in the … Rockies.”
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820- 1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
